The Weekender 21/06/2009

Well the All Whites made history this week with a 0-0 draw against Iraq. The single point from the Confederations Cup match is the first point for a senior men's team in a Fifa tournament. And that was their aim for this tournament. They had previously lost to South Africa and they lost 5-0 to Spain.

The NZ golfing contingent at the US Open all missed the cut at the halfway mark today.  David Smail finished best with Doug Batty one stroke back & Michael Campbell further back.

I think it's safe to say that All Black supporters are more relieved than happy with the 14-10 win over France. It was a shocking cold wet Wellington night with the idiotic powers-that-be continuing to force late/evening start times on mid winter games. The win was good, but the trophy was lost with NZ needing to win by at least 6 to retain the Dave Gallaher Cup.
In other rugby, South Africa managed to hold off a late charge by the British & Irish Lions to win 26-21 and Australia used a rotation policy to easily beat Italy again.
Finally, Telecom has signed up as a major sponsor for the All Blacks for the next four years.

In the transtasman netball the Melbourne Vixens just managed to beat the Northern Mystics 61-57 in a close game and Silver Fern & Canterbury Tactix Julie Seymour (38) has retired (again) and is expecting her fourth child.

The Twenty20 cricket world cup has reached the final and it will be between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. 
In the women's Twenty20, the White Ferns have made it into the final against England.

Greg Henderson had a perfect ride in the Netherlands this week. As a support rider he is just supposed to help his team-mates to win, and Greg led the team break which enabled Andre Greipel to win his eighth stage of the season. Greg finished fourth.

The NZ women's hockey team had a 3-2 win over India in their first game under new coach Mark Hager. 

A couple of big court cases have continued this week. The most internationally noticed is that of Nai Yin Xue who is notorious for taking his toddler daughter to Melbourne, abandoning her at a train station before fleeing to the USA. He is accused of murdering his wife and leaving her body in the boot of her car. Yesterday the jury returned and found him guilty.

The second case is that of Philip Taito Fields which goes on & on! A Thai tiler admitted he lied to a NZ lawyer about work he was doing on Field's house in Samoa in exchange for a work permit.

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa was to be inducted into the Hollywood Bowl hall of fame this week.

The ski season has started well with good snow and a two week early opening at Mt Ruapehu.

It looks like Labour has found someone else to attack, but this time they picked on self-proclaimed Westie Paula Bennett. Along with attacking the Social Development Minister personally, Trevor Mallard claimed Paula had 'given him the finger' (or "inappropriate one-fingered gesture"!). He claimed that her denial could be a breach of parliamentary privilege - until TV coverage cleared her and Mr Mallard was forced to apologise.

Peter Jackson will be heading a review of the Film Commission. The review is to examine the act passed more than 30 years ago and no doubt Pete is happy to help since he once accused them of making poor funding decisions. 

This week Pita Sharples said he wants universities to consider open entry for Maori students. I think that is blatantly racist. I have no problem with working to get those struggling into education but it has to be something like means testing rather than race based.

The smacking referendum has hit the news a few times this week.  The non-binding referendum states "Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand". Headline grabbing Labour leader Phil Goff let everyone know he won't be voting because he thinks the question is badly worded, while John Key said he won't be voting either but because a referendum is a chance for the public to speak to politicians. When I say "headline grabbing Labour leader" I'm sure at least someone will think I'm just abusing Labour because that's what I do, but I can hardly think of a single news story in the past month (or two or three) that hasn't had Phil Goff's opinion attached to it. I really really hope he isn't going to try & keep that up till the next election. Everyone knows the opposition will have the exact opposite view of the government - that's your job Phil - get over it.

5.1: richter scale earthquake near Rotorua this week

18: months of jail for a $39,000 GST scam

26: kakapo chicks have hatched this season - a new record for the hand-raised DOC team in Invercargill
500: $ for fake Maori passports has duped hundreds of mostly Pacific Islanders

2,000: British immigrants living in 12 countries were surveyed on quality of life & rated NZ highest in all areas
20,000: pellets of pesticide in 370 bait stations as DOC attempts to eradicate the wallabies (the animals introduced 140 yrs ago - not the rugby team)

220m: $ Ngaruawahia bypass section of the Waikato Expressway is due to start 2010-2011

Rewi Alley

GUNG HO

Rewi Alley, social reformer, educator, fireman, writer, poet, translator, great internationalist, industrialist, revered citizen, potter, soldier, hero and friend of China. Edgar Snow: "Rewi Alley is unique because he has achieved greatness in a country where few foreigners ever manage to achieve an authentic ripple." The man who introduced 'Gung Ho' into the Western idiom.